Discovering the Truth, Creating my Path
by Aerie elf
Summary: SEQUEL to Discovering the Past, Creating a Future. This one is about Dan and Elli who have grown so much since their mother's departure. But they still have so much to learn, especially about their mother.


**Yeah I'm back. This is the SEQUEL to Discovering the Past, Creating a Future (as you may have guessed by the similarity in the name). This one isn't as much about Dante, it is more about his son Dante (Dan for short) and his daughter Elli (named after her departed mother). It's set quite a few years after Elli's birth as she is currently 13 years old.** **Well that's enough from me, onto the story. Please review though i really want to know what you guys think of this as a story, and as the sequel to Discovering the Past, Creatinga Future. Thanks and on with the story.**

**Disclaimer:** _I do not own Harvest Moon (how unfortunate)_

**Ages (thus far):**

Dan - 16

Elli - 13

Tallen - 15 and a half (same school year as Dan though)

Matthew - 13

**Discovering the Truth, Creating my Path**

**By Aerie Elf**

**Chapter 1**

**Insight to our lives**

Dan flicked his hair out of his eyes as he looked over towards his sister who was yet again trying to climb the apple tree on their father's farm. Dan shook his head and walked over towards the tree at slow and steady pace. He reached the tree and held out his arms, as he stretched them out he caught his sister as she fell from the tree.

"Yet another broken arm and probably a leg that you just avoided" He said to her in a playful voice. It was tiring looking after her, but he didn't mind, he had promised his mother a long time ago that he would take care of Elli, and he did.

Oh how long ago that was, he was three when he stood over his mother's lifeless body and told her he would take care of little Elli, who was so named after their departed mother. He was now sixteen years old and looking after her. She was thirteen and accident prone at times, but he was always there to help her when she needed it. He just hoped that it wouldn't get to the stage where she was telling him to leave her alone. But if it happened it happened, there was nothing he could do about it.

"Thanks Dan, gotta go and help Ann, she probably wants to teach me more about cooking, and it's 5 o'clock, you should be going with Cliff and Dad and the boys hunting, you are supposed to learn that you know!" Now she was being the stern one and Dan couldn't help but laugh at her. She was very pretty, with dark, nearly black, eyes and hair to match his own and their father's.

Dan put Elli down and nudged her to get going into the large two story house that was fit for two families, and it fit their's and Cliff's family just fine. Since their mother had died Ann had become the official cook of the house and mother to all the children. But the fact that she was the mother of all of them had never stopped their parents basically planing an arranged marriage between his sister Elli and their second son; Matthew, better known as Matt.

Matt was tall for his age, as was his older brother and as was Dan. Matt and his older brother Tallen, better known as Tal, were almost identical in that they both had light brown hair and blue eyes, but Tal was taller (as did come with his age being greater) and his hair matched Dan's in that it was in a messy style where his fringe fell into his face. Matt dyed his hair blonde and had surfy style hair.

When it came to personalities, Dan put them in two very different categories. Matt was the young, popular, arrogant, ignorant, ladies man. Whereas Tal was the older, wiser, smarter, tougher, and shyer of the two brothers. Personally Dan liked Tal better, he wasn't exactly shy, but he wasn't as outgoing as his brother, especially when it came to girls. It was when it came to girls that seemed to annoy Dan.

Matt definitely flirted with a lot of girls and broke a lot of hearts, and it was this that really had Dan on edge. He knew that sooner or later Matt would look to _his _sister for his own courting amusement, he would break Elli's heart if he thought it would be for his own personal gain. The thought of it made Dan's eyes blaze and his muscles tense. But Dan accepted the fact that these things happen, but sixteen years of working on this farm meant that he would have no trouble beating the shit out of Matt if he hurt El. That made Dan smirk in an evil sense and sort of narrow his eyes a little. He could only imagine how sinister that would look.

"Yo Dante? Can I ask a favour?" It was Tallen yelling to him from the bridge on the farm leading to the forest.

"Yo Tallen, depends, what is it?" He smiled and ran to catch up to his friend. As he ran he heard Fable coming up behind him and he quickly spun around and caught the wolf as it went to pounce on him. They both went to the ground but it was all in good fun. Tal laughed from the bridge, but Fable got a cunning look on her wolf's face and ran at top speed and took Tal down into the water the ran beneath the bridge.

"Well I guess you want me to pull you up out of there huh Tal?" Dan said as he cacked himself with laughter. He held out his hand to Tal, but Tal pulled him into the river with him and they began having a water fight in the small river.

"What are you guys doing? Dad and Cliff are waiting for you guys to get your arses up to the hill so they can get you to help them hunting!" Came the voice of Dan's sister. Dan smiled and got out of the river.

"Don't worry sis, we're goin," He said teasingly to her.

"Yeah don't freak El, leave that to my dad and your dad" Tal said smiling at her as he got out of the stream. Dan and Tal went and got their horse; of course Dan's horse was the son of Night, his father's horse. Tal's horse was the son of Dusk, Cliff's horse. There was only one more horse in the sable and it was a pure white mare, it was beautiful and it seemed almost impossible that it was the foal of Night; who was a pure black stallion, but it was true, and the horse was beautiful. Dusk and Night's foals were both the same colours as they were but they both had a white star on their heads.

Dan jumped onto his horse bare backed, his was named after his father and so was Tal's horse, but seeing as the only people who rode each horse were the owners of the horse's the horses seemed to be able to tell which of them was being whistled are called for.

Tal and Dan decided to race to where their fathers were waiting, and Elli was there to make sure the race was fair and square. She held up their family's trademark red bandana she usually had tied around her neck or hair. She then let go of the bandana without warning of both Dan and Tal heeled their horses to a gallop. Dan felt the rush of flying running through him as he and his horse merge together and ran into the forest headstrong and without caution.

**OoO**

Elli watched as both boys raced off into the distance and she smiled as she saw her brother pull out in front, he was definitely racing material. She was proud of him, very proud. She went into the stable and patted her mare on the head. It was young and it danced around as though it wanted to go for a run. Elli looked at her watch and saw that it was already 5:30pm; it was going to be getting dark soon. But one more look at the mare confirmed that that was not about to stop Elli, nothing stopped her.

She mounted the mare she named snow; of course she rode bare backed like the rest of her family, and she heeled it to a gallop off into the forest. She wasn't as good of a rider as her brother, but she wasn't going to get better if she didn't ride the horse that often. She just had to be careful not to run into her father or brother as she was riding around, she wasn't supposed to be out riding this late, she was supposed to be at home with Ann. But the housewife life wasn't for her, she wouldn't let any man hold her down like that cooking and cleaning all the time while he went out and had all the fun. Elli wasn't about to have her life chosen for her by any man, this was her life and she was going to have as much fun as she possibly could.

It was autumn so everything was brown, red and orange. Elli loved the autumn, she loved it, just to watch the leaves fall and to play in the piles of them. She loved swimming in the lake and hot spring in autumn as the leaves fell in the water around her. In fact, Elli was beginning to believe that she just liked leaves, no mater what season. Elli started thinking about it then, why did she like leaves so much? What was it about them that fascinated her?

It was just then that Elli realised she had been thinking so hard she had forgotten she was even on top of a horse. She saw it as it got closer and closer and all she could do was panic. At the spur of the moment she stood up on her horses back and jumped into a pile of leaves, landing on her weak ankle. The horse came to a screeching halt, but it was so scared by what had happened that it bolted off into the forest.

Elli went to chase after the horse, she could easily catch it if she ran hard enough, but her weak ankle had been hit hard and it would not support her just standing, let alone walking. It was then that she realised how much the ankle hurt, and it brought tears to her eyes.

So there she was, alone in the forest with her horse gone running off, her ankle paining her so much that she was crying, her older brother couldn't be there to help her because she had ignored him and done things her way, and now it was almost completely dark. No one was going to find her like this, and she had no way to give warning. She whistled to her horse but it didn't come, it must have been really spooked. Elli sat and sung a soft song Dan used to sing to her a long time ago, it soothed her soul; maybe it would help someone to find her. She couldn't scream, she was too winded and she had to make the strength she had left last until she did think someone was nearby. So there she sat, as she sung her favourite song from so long ago…

**OoO**

Dan's head spun when he saw that the white mare was gone, his heart stopped for a few seconds and Tal didn't saw anything either. Both of them looked at each other when they had gained enough of their consciousness to think straight. Both had the look in their eyes that this was going to be one of those times. Dan whistled to Fable and Tal went inside to get Ann to cover for them while they went to find Elli. Their father would freak if he realised Elli was gone, she was all he had left to remind him of their mother.

It made Dan kind of sad when he thought about how they had to lie to Elli and tell her that their mother died from something else, rather than childbirth. Elli was sensitive, she would take t personally and blame herself and probably drive herself into serious depression. Dan felt as though his father treated Elli better because she was really their mothers' daughter, Dan wasn't someone else was his mother, but he was still treated like a son by his father, and his mother while she was alive. Elli didn't know that either, but she didn't need to, she would never have too.

"Come on Dan, Ann is gonna cover for us, extra hunting practise or something, we have to go find her" Tal said, it surprised Dan that Tal was so worried, but he dismissed it, they had to get going.

"How should we signal each other?" Dan asked him.

"What do you mean?"

"Well if we spilt up we are more likely to find her, the forest is huge, and no matter the price, I want to find her" Dan said urgently, Tal started at the floor for a moment, but then he snapped right back into reality.

"Well…I guess…I'm not sure, but we aren't going to find her any faster if we stand here, we'll figure it out as we go along" Tal said, he jumped onto his horse and raced off across the farm.

Dan watched him go, he just couldn't understand it, but he had to get Elli before he sat down and sussed these things out. Dan jumped onto his horse's back and raced of across the farm towards the woods with Fable close behind, she would go off and look by herself as well. Dan just prayed that one of them found her soon, she could be anywhere.

**OoO**

Tal could barely see in the darkness like it was. It must have been close to 7pm now. His horse raced through the forest and dodged trees faster than it had ever run before; it must have know how desperate he was right now. He had to find Elli, someone had to.

Tal saw a light out of the corner of his eye, well he thought he did, but when he looked, it was gone. He kept the horse going, racing in and out of trees and thickets. He patted the horse as it raced on.

Tal could almost swear that out of the corner of his eye he saw that light again, a mere glow in the distance, but a light none the less. Tal turned the horse in that direction and headed straight for it, maybe Elli was out there somewhere. He heard the cry of wolves and the sounds of animals and other woodland creatures; this wasn't the safest place to be at night, not on your own.

Tal knew wolves hunted in packs, and a pack of wolves could take down a warhorse without a worry, but his carthorse wouldn't stand a chance. He halted his horse for a minute to check for any sounds in the distance.

"Nothing, come on boy" He whispered to himself and the horse. The horse galloped on and Tal was grateful for it's speed and spirit.

But as they kept on he could here the wolves howling getting closer. He had to hurry, he had to hope beyond hope that tat light did have something to do with Elli. He raced towards it, faster and faster. The wolves' howls kept with him though, he couldn't outrun them, especially not when they were all through the woods. He had heard nothing of Dan all night, but the highest priority was Elli, he had to find her.

Still racing from wolves towards an unknown light, Tal had a moment to enjoy his youth, being so scared and courageous at the same time, it was the stuff you read about in books, and yet here he was experiencing it first hand. There was something else etching at the back of his mind, but he couldn't pin point what it was and he was in too much of a rush to give it too much thought, he was flat out trying to avoid trees and possible ambush from wolves.

The light became brighter as Tal assumed he was getting closer to it, but the wolves still growled and padded on the forest floor. If it wasn't for the leaves of autumn Tal was sure he would have not heard the wolves until it was too late, they were getting closer now.

Tal got right up too the light. It made a barrier sort of thing, like smooth sphere shape, Tal didn't have time to think about what might be inside as he kept his horse running at it, hoping he could pass through. He closed his eyes as the horse came close to the sphere; it was really bright. His heart stopped and it seemed like forever sa he closed his eyes and a cold shiver ran all through his body. But just as soon as it had started, the feeling disappeared. Tal opened his eyes hopping he wasn't in another dimension or something.

"I think I should take a break from computer games, another dimension, you idiot!" He was almost shouting at himself. Tal hadn't even taken in what was around him inside…this place.

"Shhh! You'll wake her, take her home…."

**Kinda short for a first chapter but i hope you get the gist. If there is anyone that really needs explaining or anything let me know. If you see an error in the ages of the characters let me know and other than that just let me know what YOU think; in other words REVIEW PEOPLE lol. Oh well, onto chapter 2 i guess.**


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